A Special Kind of Fool

 

Mt. Fuji in Japan





I was a college exchange student living in Japan with a friend. After studying the language for six months, I could translate Japanese a little.  I saw an advertisement of people climbing a mountain in shorts and the words I translated were Mt. Fuji, walking, and this spring. I thought it would be a good idea to climb Mt. Fuji and my friend agreed to go with me. We brought sleeping bags and wore raincoats, jeans, and sneakers. We were planning on hitchhiking to the nearby town of Gotemba, making it to the mountain at midnight, and reaching the top by sunrise. We successfully hitchhiked to Gotemba and took a rest in a noodle shop. The shop owner warned us that Mt. Fuji was very cold this time of year and far away. The map said Mt. Fuji was nearby so we ignored him and began to walk there. A car then pulled up beside us with the noodle shop owner in the drivers seat. He picked us up and brought us to Mt. Fuji which was in the other direction. After twenty minutes, we were at the mountain and began our journey. After walking for a while, we realized it was too cold and too dark to climb anymore so we rested in two abandoned shacks. The next morning, we both decided we were unprepared and too cold to finish climbing the mountain. We had climbed one quarter of the mountain, turned around, and went back down.

Map of Mt. Fuji

On Safari, Only the Animals Sleep through the Night

Okavango Delta in Africa



When my plane landed in the Okavango Delta, a game ranger named Phinley took me to the safari camp. Phinley told me that one year ago lighting struck and burned down the camp. The newly built camp consisted of tents and some wooden docks. Kenny, the manager, explained that the lions will be very close and not to be afraid. He gave me an air horn and said only to sound the alarm in times of emergencies. And to him, an emergency was when the lions start breaking into the tent. I then saw three female lions near a water hole extremely close to the camp, and thats when the idea hit me. I might die tonight if a lion wants to rip me to shreds and eat me. To my luck, I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of breaking twigs. They continued to snap and then I heard whatever it was right next to my tent. I was about to sound the alarm, plus I really needed to use the restroom. I waited until I heard silence and ran to the restroom and back. The next morning I told Kenny what happened. He then impersonated the noise I heard from the lion last night perfectly. He laughed and said that was an elephant, not a lion. I'm glad I did not sound the alarm because the elephant might have trampled me.

Map of Okavango Delta in Botswana

The Boat from Battambang



The Boat on the Sangke River



Traveling on Cambodia's landscape is extremely dangerous. When the Angkor Express Boat Company promised to take me from Tonle Sap to Angkor by boat in just five hours, I jumped at the chance. It was the middle of March and the hottest and most humid time of year in Cambodia. There was not enough rain to fill up the river. The boat was having difficulty making it all the way to Angkor and was going to meet another boat in the small town called Bak Prea. A van was going to take me and three other travels to Bak Prea. We kept getting stuck in mud and had to push it out. This happened multiple times and we did not reach Bak Prea until night time. When we made it, the town was mostly bamboo huts and it smelled like fish and sewage. The boat was there but the captain was not. He was in Battambang and would not return until the next day. A police man told us to spend the night in an abandoned school house. I had difficulty sleeping because of all the mosquitoes. The next morning the captain took us to Angkor, but I had to pay for a taxi ride to my hotel. My five hour trip took more than a day.

Map of Cambodia

Blackout in Ushuaia





Ushuaia in August



Ushuaia is a very popular and lively skiing resort, or so I am told. My wife and I have the odd habit of traveling to interesting  places, but at the most uninteresting times. We travelled to Ushuaia in August, between the skiing seasons, and the area is incredibly dull. We cannot ski on the mountains, the best chefs are gone, and the town seems deserted. To save money, we checked out of the expensive hotel and take a taxi to a cheaper one called the Tolkeyen. The room is very small and boring, yet cozy. I get the urge to go for a walk, and my wife decides to go with me. Everything seems grey and peaceful. We also have a good view of the bright lights from a nearby town. All of a sudden, the lights go out. What was once a bright and lively town is now darkness. We decide to head back to the hotel where the concierge is handing out candles to all the residents. We get a candle and go to our room when my wife suddenly gets the urge to do it. I, of course, had no objections. In the midst of the act a family opens our door and walks in. A father, mother, and three children enter the room before they notice us on the bed. The mother quickly grabs the kids and leaves the room. The father just stared for a bit before saying, "Sorry, wrong room." Then he leaves. The blackout last for another hour and we are extremely bored. The next day, we get on a boat to tour the Beagle Channel, when I see the family from last night get on the same boat. I laugh because they experienced the same boring vacation we did, except they saw something interesting.



Map of Ushuaia

The Sights of Prague



What I expected to see in Prague

I was asked to fly to Prague and write an article about a British band playing in a gig there. This was good news because I would have a lot of free time to see the sights and enjoy Prague. but I had a feeling that this trip was not going to go very well. These thoughts probably started when the man that picked me up from the airport pulled out an uzi and just stared at me. Luckily, no one got shot and he just wanted to show me his gun. The driver, Honza, then took me to a pub where I was supposed to meet the photographer for the show. The photographer never showed up, of course. Instead, I met one of Honza's friends, Jiri, also called 'the butcher'. He then offered me drugs, women, a gun, and even an anti-tank missile. I refused all his offers. Honza soon returned with a disposable camera and said, "I have camera. Now we go to show." We went to the show and the band was alright. Afterwards, Honza took me to dinner with his friends and made me stay the night at his house. I passed out drunk on his sofa at about three in the morning. Four hours later, Honza woke me up and said we had to go back to airport now. On the way to the airport, I began to look at Honza differently. I was no longer afraid of him and he went out of his way to spend time with me. I guess he was now my friend. That is, until he handed me a bill for everything we did together. It was an interesting trip indeed.   

Here is a detailed map of Prague

Response Questions

By the Seat of My Pants was a good book choice for this project. I had trouble reading this book, but that's just who I am. I have trouble reading any book, even the Harry Potter series. I tried reading the whole series but I was never able to finish book three. However, I'm glad I chose By the Seat of My Pants because of the format. It is a collection of short and humorous stories which made reading it simpler. I did not feel the need to read the entire book at once. Because this book is broken up into many different short stories, I did not have a single place be my favorite. I enjoyed the places that were discussed in a negative way. Most people travel in order to experience unique and exciting cultures, but these stories narrarate unfortunate events while traveling. A few examples of places discussed are Prague, Ushuaia, Oaxaca, America, and about thirty others. A central idea the author is trying to get across is that not all vacations will be perfect like one expects, but they must still treasure their unique experiences in foreign places and enjoy these trips as much as possible. From this project, I learned the basic tools for creating and accessing blogs. I also learned to try and travel more becuase it sounds exciting. The most difficult part of the project was getting started and deciding what to post about. The most enjoyable part of the project was when I finished!